A couple of podcasts ago, we mentioned RSS feeds, we kind of assumed you guys knew what we were talking about. Essentially, RSS feeds allow users to get info (that are RSS enabled) of off a website without having to view the entire page. Plus we have a quick tip at the end of the article
For instance, say you like reading our tips and posts. You would click on the orange icon in the address bar that looks like an orange square with rounded edges.
Try it out”¦ it will show you all of our posts without actually loading the site. Pretty Cool Eh! What’s the point of this you might ask. Well, you can use these rss links in a number of applications that will let you manipulate how you want the information to appear. It’s kind of like creating your own interactive newspaper. Some applications have more flexibility than others, but all of them should let you have multiple RSS feeds imported. It kinda works like email. You can set an interval and the program will go and check the website for new posts.
In my opinion the best RSS reader applications is Newsfire, but it’s not free. So, be warned. Most of the major internet browsers have RSS readers built in, but they limit your functionality.
Quick Tip:
Apple has shipped a screensaver with OS X Tiger that displays an RSS feed in a pretty neat, and interactive way. Follow the Steps below to try it out.
First you need to use safari to bookmark the RSS feed you want, so open up safari. Browse to your favourite news site. Click on the Blue RSS icon in the Address bar (I know its not orange. Take it up with Apple!). Now in the right column and click the link at the very bottom that says “˜Add Bookmark’. Name it whatever you want, and save it where ever you want. But, remember where you put it. Ok, done? Now open up the System Preferences by clicking on the Blue Apple in the Top right corner of your screen. Navigate to the System Preferences option. Click on Desktop and ScreenSavers, then the Screensaver tab. Now highlight the Screensaver called RSS Visualizer. Then click options. Scroll through the list of possibilities until you find the RSS feed you saved. Click on done. You can test it out if you want.
Essentially the screensaver will grab the most recent news and display them on your screen. You can push the key number that corresponds to the article and your browser will open, and take you to the story so you can read it. Pretty Neat Hunh.
